We were unsure for a long time as to whether or not to take the long trip down to the very south of Norway, but decided in the end we really wanted to show NC Martika! Oddan Alpakka were to show their Macho Beauty as well, so we took the trip together. They had arranged a nice motorhome and with a comfortable trailer in the back the trip went much smoother than feared. What a way to travel for both alpacas and people!

The show was in Lyngdal this year, a beautiful place in a fjord. The weather was great, almost Summer. Consequently the show ring was moved outdoors and we didn’t have to be in the rather glum and moist training hall for horses where the booths were. The wonderful fleece shows better in good lighting conditions.

The show committee received us on arrival and we set up our booth with flooring and food for the alpacas before moving them in. They quickly settled while we got the rest of the practical matters in order. The evening was closed off with a nice barbecue at a nearby caravan park. Peace and quiet with good friends is indeed what you need on a trip like this.

Her er dommer Jude i forgrunnen, Martika og Rolf står klar:

Above: Jude waiting for the signal to proceed, Rolf with Martika waiting to go in.

Saturday was show day and more or less was without breaks until we had shown all of ours. NC Martika was first, nr 1 on the start list, in junior female grey. On the way to the show she was stalked by a group of large horses, and didn’t care for it at all. We got her calmed down, but she continued to keep an eye on the horses even in the ring :-)

Jude Anderson was judge this year, an experienced international judge that is strict, but just. Martika is an exciting mix of top quality Australian alpacas through our male Corazon and a very good female grey from Chile. She looks brown at first, and not grey. Her colour is “roan” which all grey alpacas has as the base for their colour, but she lacks the tuxedo pattern. Still grey. She would probably be a “black point modern rose grey” in the US. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Jude loved what she saw, praised the fantastic fleece and gave her a first in her class, the largest grey class.

Above: Jude gave the title of Reserve Champion to Martika and praised her fleece in every way. You straighten up a little extra after hearing that and we are very proud of our girl! Here she is with her banner.

Harlequin Tango and Stormtrooper got good placing in tough classes. We liked Stormtroopers placing in particular. He is white, but his mother is black. We are really not breeding for white, but get some whites now and then anyway and it’s nice to see them do well too :-)

We finished the day by watching the later classes and the Supreme Champion judgement, and lots of talks with colleagues. We don’t see all of them very often so it’s nice to catch up. We retired to our camper for some more barbecuing later in the evening.

1. april posterte vi nyheten om at vi ifjor reiste til USA for å plukke ut nye dyr til vårt avlsprogram. USA har noen av verdens beste alpakkaer, og er spesielt gode på alpakkaer med farger. Vi dro med Sjøli og fokuserte på området av USA som har spesielt gode grå, og fant gull :-)
Vi startet med salgsseminaret Shades of Grey, hvor vi også fikk møte en vi kun har snakket med på epost før, Andy Merriwether. Andy er genetiker og forsker bl.a. på alpakkaer. Hans kunnskap om fargegenetikk er svært verdifull. Vi tilbrakte mye tid med Ann og Andy Merriwether, og lærte mye.No, it wasn’t an April Fools joke!On the first of April we posted the news that we last year went to the US to pick out new alpacas to our breeding programme. USA have some of the best alpacas in the world, and are especially good at breeding coloured alpacas. We went there together with Sjoeli and focused on the area of the US that have the best greys. We found gold :-)We started with the sales seminar Shades of Grey, were we got to meet someone who we have only communicated with on email before, Andy Merriwether. Andy is an geneticist and does research on alpacas, amongst other things. His knowledge of colour genetics is very valuable. We spent a lot of time with Ann and Andy, and learned a lot from them.
Shades of Grey:
Andys lab:
En av de viktigste stoppene var A Paca Fun, og familien Padgett. Her kjøpte vi etterhvert flere av dyrene som kommer til Norge, men vi fikk ikke kjøpe SuperSonic som Bari her viser fram så stolt:One of the most important stops were A Paca Fun, and the Padgetts. We eventually bought several of the alpacas here, but we didn’t get to buy SuperSonic that Bari shows off so proudly above :-)
De har noen fantastiske hengere i USA! Se her hva Neil har:Some of the trailers they have in the US are amazing. Look at what Neil have above!
Vi besøkte også Jeff Hull og Nancy Lake i Gray Alpaca Company. Her fra fjøset hos Jeff:Another stop, Jeff Hull and Nancy Lake at Gray Alpaca Company. Above is a photo of a part of their barn with females.
Flott grå hingst hos Jayme Hettinger, Sage Hills Alpacas:Jayme Hettinger could show off a beautiful grey male that you can see above.
Mer vakkert grått. Silver Centaur:Above: Another fabulous grey male, Silver Centaur.
Fiberen vi fikk se på turen var fantastisk. Her fra Cas-Cad-Nac:Some of the fleeces we saw were just fantastic. Above is a dark brown one from Cas-Cad-Nac.
USA har mange store utstillinger, og Cas-Cad-Nac er en oppdretter som tar hjem mange premier:Above: The US have a lot of shows, and Cas-Cad-Nac is one breeder that wins a lot of prizes.
Far til en av våre nye hopper, Snowmass Legend:Above: The father of one of our new females, Snowmass Legend.
Og her, er en farm! Dette er gården til A Paca Fun, med låven i sentrum:
En fantastisk tur. Vi var hos mange flere oppdrettere enn bildene viser, og takker alle for god mottakelse!
Nå gleder vi oss stort til å få dyrene hjem. Dyrene vi har valgt ut passer perfekt inn i vårt avlsprogram og bygger videre på kvalitetene vi har.
Vi forteller mer senere :-)It was a fantastic journey. We visited far more breeders than the pictures show, and want to thank everyone for such a great show of hospitality!Now we’re just looking forward to getting the alpacas home. The alpacas we have chosen fit our breeding programme perfectly and further builds on the qualities we haveWe’ll tell you more later :-)